The "A" frame truss design of the central span is based on an 1894 patent[1] by John Alexander Low Waddell, which was replicated multiple times throughout the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf and St. Louis Southwestern railroads.

While the line was reportedly abandoned in the late 1980s, the original single track remains in place.

[5] In the early 1990s, the railroad donated the bridge to the City of Shreveport, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

[4][6] In 2017, the Shreveport Downtown Development Authority initiated a survey of the bridge, citing potential future redevelopment of the site as a greenway due to its proximity to Clyde Fant Parkway along the Red River.

[6][7] The other remaining Waddell "A" Truss Bridge, also listed on the National Register, was built in Missouri in 1898.